Vote could spell the end of Lowe at Southampton

The Southampton chairman Rupert Lowe faces a vote for his removal from the board of directors after the announcement last night of an extraordinary general meeting of the club's parent company, Southampton Leisure Holdings.

After weeks of manoeuvring Michael Wilde, the largest individual shareholder, has proposed the removal of Lowe, the managing director Andrew Cowen, Michael Richards, David Windsor-Clive and the former chairman Guy Askham. In their place Wilde, Ken Dulieu, Jim Hone, Lee Hoos and Patrick Trant have been put forward as potential successors.

Sources close to Wilde have said that he would not call an EGM unless he was confident of toppling Lowe from the position of chairman which he has held for more than nine years. Wilde personally controls 24.75% of shares but is also likely to be backed by other significant shareholders, including Leon Crouch, who owns 9.95%. Lowe has a personal shareholding of 6.69% and could expect the support of other board members and shareholders with an estimated 20%. The intentions of other shareholders are not known.

Wilde has confirmed that he would like George Burley to continue as head coach but, although he has previously said that he supports Sir Clive Woodward, he made no mention of the rugby union World Cup winner in a statement released last night. Having been appointed by Lowe, Woodward's position as director of football would surely come under scrutiny by a new board. Woodward has, however, spoken with Wilde in recent months.

Wilde, who is the non-executive chairman of the housing company Merlion Group, said last night: "It has been clear for some time that a wide body of shareholders and supporters of Southampton Football Club believe that fundamental change to the senior management of the company is required to get the club moving again in the right direction.

"As a significant shareholder in the company I share this view. There have been protracted negotiations and discussions with Mr Lowe with a view to taking such matters forward positively. Sadly these have been inconclusive.

"It is important to stress that strenuous efforts have been made to reach an amicable, mutually agreeable arrangement. However, despite numerous attempts this has not proved possible."

One surprise is that the prospective new chairman will be Dulieu, with Hone as the chief executive and Hoos as the operations director. Dulieu, 59, spent his early career in the police force and is chairman of Capcon Holdings plc and a director of Vantis plc. Both Hone and Hoos have previous experience in football. Hone has been business operations director at Celtic and chief executive at Fulham, while Hoos has been deputy managing director and football business director at Fulham.

A date must now be fixed for the EGM within the next three weeks. It would then be a further 28 days before the meeting takes place. A separate EGM of the football board is due on June 1 to consider the positions of Keith Wiseman, Brian Hunt and Ian Gordon who have rebelled against Lowe and sold shares to Wilde.

In response to the EGM, Lowe last night said: "It is premature to voice any opinion as to whether the changes proposed are in the company's best interests or not. To help in this process we may ask Mr Wilde to set out the detail of his proposal as this is not present in the notice.

"The removal of five out of nine directors from the plc board is a major change for the company and it is our intention to make sure that shareholders have the full story at the earliest possible opportunity."